Dutch court: Government not violating weapon exports ban to Israel by supplying US
Complying with previous court order, Netherlands has temporarily stopped sending F-35 parts to Israel, but rights group argues it is sidestepping ban by shipping them to America
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch court on Friday rejected a claim from a group of human rights organizations that the Netherlands is dodging a court order to stop sending F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel by supplying the parts to the United States.
The Hague District Court ruled that Oxfam Novib, Pax Nederland and The Rights Forum had not shown any evidence that the Dutch government was ignoring the earlier ruling.
In February, an appeals court told the Dutch government to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, citing a clear risk of violations of international law if they are used in strikes on Gaza. The Dutch government appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court, but said it was abiding by the order in the meantime by halting direct exports to Israel.
The aid groups went back to court last month, arguing the country was evading the ban by sending the parts to the US, which was then sending them on to Israel. They demanded a fine for the alleged breach.
The groups are “giving too broad an interpretation” to the earlier judgment, the court wrote in Friday’s ruling.
The organizations said they disagreed with the decision and were considering further legal action. “It is unacceptable that the Netherlands remains knowingly complicit in violations of the laws of war by Israel in Gaza,” they said in a joint statement.
During a hearing in June, the Dutch government said it was unable to track the parts after they left the Netherlands and warned against placing further restrictions. Reimer Veldhuis, a lawyer representing the government, cautioned that seeking to prevent more exports of F-35 parts to nations other than Israel could put at risk supplies to militaries around the world who operate the advanced fighter jets at a time of soaring international tensions.
The Netherlands is home to one of three F-35 European regional warehouses.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s massacre on Israel on October 7, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others as hostages.
Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, but this number cannot be verified and does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
The Dutch Supreme Court will take up the larger case in September.
The Times of Israel Staff contributed reporting.
